


relationship in progress

by hydrangeamaiden



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Bubble Bath, Cutesy, Fluff, Gender Neutral Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Other, Romance, Tickling, venom has a cute laugh fight me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-08 18:34:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16434638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydrangeamaiden/pseuds/hydrangeamaiden
Summary: Venom always takes care of Eddie. Eddie wants to return the favor.





	relationship in progress

The bright yellow of the street lamps, like little suns, are the only lights in the black-and-blue San Francisco streets. It's so late at night that even the corner store is closed. There's nowhere to go now but home. Venom takes the usual route home, wide awake but feeling their adrenaline wearing off. The nights have become busier than usual. While it has made feeding Eddie's symbiote darling easy, it makes life difficult in other aspects. People go missing, crimes committed as crimes are solved. It is only a matter of time before they become more than a cryptid or urban legend.

Venom, of course, isn't as worried. Eddie can tell without either of them exchanging a word. Yes, not as worried, but worried still. He doesn't full melt away when they step through the door. Doesn't want to let go all the way. Still holding onto Eddie's shoulders and back, far smaller compared to his own rippling muscles but comforting in their own right.

"Shit, what a night." Eddie kicks off his boots and stomps to the bathroom. His body feels heavy with exhaustion now and he can only stomp. "We are not going out tomorrow."

**Why not. We have never been better.** Venom sinks through Eddie's clothes and onto his skin. They do not want to be thrown into the hamper with sweat-stained clothes. Eddie would never let that happen, but still.

"Well, the way I see it, what we do is like..." Eddie fumbles with his thoughts as he steps out of his pants. "...Like a job. With any job you gotta take breaks, right?"

**Do not want to hear that from you. You do not ever take care of yourself unless I make you.**

"Ouch, okay. You got me." Eddie stares at the strainer in the tub drain. That's for the shower, but, hm...

He feels Venom gently prodding his thoughts, mentally coaxing him to spit it out. And verbally, as well.

There is another reason. No hiding things, when we are bonded, Venom reminds him matter-of-factly. He can physically feel their smugness, and purses his lips. Finally, he removes the drain and replaces it with a stopper.

**Tell me what you are thinking.** Venom's hand overlaps with Eddie's, stopping him from turning on the water. Their skin, for lack of a better term, is warm. It stands out against the bright white of the tub. He gives pause, then twists the faucet handle anyway.

"Thinkin' about you, V," Eddie admits. Just those words feel loaded with raw emotion that he can't expand upon. That is how he feels at his very core. And while he's at it, why not put out more of that? "What about you, V? You're always taking care of me, but what about you?"

Venom stirs inside of him, or maybe those are the butterflies in his stomach.

**As long as Eddie is taken care of, I am taken care of,** they finally respond. Two gooey appendages sneak around his waist and hug him needily. This is a symbiotic relationship, after all. Maybe even deeper than that. It's different from the usual human romances Eddie has been involved in. This codependency is the nature of a symbiosis with a Klyntar, but he thinks human morals have a place here, too.

In that simple embrace he feels a deep need, feels it all the way down to his bones. Hot water fills the silence and reminds him of the churning waves off the coast with which his love was washed down by. Eddie rubs Venom's 'arms' soothingly as the tub fills.

It's only a cheap apartment tub, but the moment Eddie sinks into it feels better than any hot tub. Venom floats in the water like an oil slick. When Eddie tosses a bath bomb into the water, they squeal and retreat into him. It takes some coaxing, and much restraint of his laughter, to get them back out.

"V, come on. You don't know what a bath bomb is? You're not gonna dissolve."

**I will be the one laughing, when I am the one to throw an object at your head.**

"Okay, I'm sorry. Just come back out? The water feels soooo good. Feeling it through me won't do it any justice," Eddie teases, and leans back. The foamy water ripples and gives way to Venom's furrowed brow. The rest of them emerges until they are two in a tub, connected at the legs. It's weird to see his other in front of him and not around him, but in a good way.

**I get it now. Relaxing.** Venom shrinks back into Eddie just enough so that they both fit comfortably in the tub. Eddie has never bothered with this before. Understand why now.

Eddie washes his hair and watches Venom slowly melt with pleasure, though they snap back to attention when he nears them with a sponge. Do symbiotes need washed? Do they get dirty? He's about to find out.

**Agh! Aghh!** Venom goes from hulking beefcake to squirming mass of goo in two seconds. They send water sloshing over the tub and probably wake up the neighbors with their scream-laughing. Eddie's heart swells full to bursting, and the only way to stop it from exploding is to pull Venom in for a hug.

**No! Tickles! Eddie, I will eat you!** Venom shrills as they are scrubbed down, but Eddie is relentless. When he's finally finished, Venom's now glistening mass is quivering. He can feel the betrayal that lies somewhere between shocked and playful. They return to him on the condition that he does NOT surprise them like that again.

"Squeaky clean though, right?" Eddie asks as he rubs the both of them down.

**Eddie I will put soap in your veins.**

"Oh noooo."

Eddie knows they won't do that. The most they do is poke his sides while he gets into his pajamas and make him double over in a laughing fit. The downside of being in this type of relationship: his partner knows all of his weak points.

"Okay! I give in! You win!" Eddie throws his arms out and falls backwards into bed. Once settled onto the mattress, Venom emerges to cuddle against him again.

**Eddie thinking about me, hm?**

"Yeah..." Only when Eddie's smile softens does he realize how much his face hurts from laughing. He cups the back of Venom's head. "You do all this shit for me, all the time. And I...sometimes I just feel like I'm useless no matter what I do in return. I at least wanna try to take care of you, you know?"

Of course they know. They know everything.

**Not useless. You are perfect.** Venom slides up to murmur sweetly against Eddie's lips. **I am still here because of you, Eddie.**

God, he does not deserve them. The way they treat him, though, it makes him feel like he does for a moment. Eddie pulls the duvet over the both of them and gives them a peck on the lips. "Same. Good night, V. Love you."


End file.
